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Hi, Bread!
High bred? No, that's not it either, nothing with so much pedigree. Hybrid, yeah, that's more like it. As a proponent of being a jack of all trades, and master of none, I've found the concept of a hybrid do-it-all bike appealing. Ok, yes, I prefer designs that are closer to mountain bikes in their geometry, as I don't feel this detracts from their road abilities, but it seems that along with slacker angles and more tire clearance often comes suspension.
Yes, I've been accepting, ok, even enjoying, a fork that moves up and down, a lot, on the front of my mountain bike, but I really didn't want to add something else that can leak onto the front of a bike I want as reliable transportation, so I was really excited by how much I liked the result of my "Call me Mikey" experiment. By changing wheel size to create a cool utilitarian bike, did I hybridize a hybrid? Double hybrid? Hybrid²?
No matter what it's called, I rode it to help out at Bike Lab last Saturday. I rode early, because I never have an issue squandering extra time, and to start spending it, I stopped by Hampshire Bicycle Exchange since they often have useable parts that aren't quite up to their resale standards that they'll offer to Bike Lab. They've even given us a couple complete bikes, and this Saturday, I left with another almost complete bike, although I had to ghost ride it since I haven't yet added a front hub for piggybacking to the rack of my hybrid-hybrid.
If you can't beat them, join them? I kept the bike from H.B.E. and wound up with another bike with a suspension fork. Built to a price point, however, there's a good chance the fork doesn't have anything as fancy as oil to leak. Hip, hip, hooray for less fancy bikes! The friction of cheap materials can make effective, not necessarily good, damping, and at a mere 60mm of travel, there isn't that much motion to control. Heck I'm targeting ⅔ of that amount as sag on the mountain bike.
In addition to the suspension fork, the bike wears a sticker that read XL. I'm not an especially large human. In fact, as a late bloomer, I was shocked when I first learned I am a couple inches above average height. I'd grown up as the perpetual little kid in all my classes. Even in 2000, the first year I had a bike without a numerical size, I was surprised when the rep said I'd be on a large. I'd always assume I'd finally just achieved medium status.
For my slightly above average height, I have long legs, and I grew up on a first mountain bike that was huge for me, so I learned to ride bending far over to reach the handlebars. Rather that learn a new way to ride, this old dog with a short torso likes bikes with long top tubes, so it's a good thing my legs are long enough to stand over the extra large bike fleet I find steadily growing in my garage.
With places for my butt and hands added, I took the sproingy hybrid for a ride earlier this week, and I liked it a lot right up to the point when the saddle slipped, and then the clamp threads stripped free on the bolt when I tried to tighten it more. I didn't dislike then, but I did point for home with the loose saddle flopping under my standing legs.
The ride home standing didn't dissuade me. I like the bike. It rides, well, like and extra large, and it seems I like that. Wednesday I made it mine: shorter cranks with smaller chainrings, shifters upside-down and on the opposite sides, and yes, a pair of my beloved bar-middles. I even swapped on my nicest pair of half clipless, half flat pedals. I think I'll take it on the Trail Blasters junior mountain bike ride this evening, after running errands on the road first. Yay, hybrid ride!
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